Well, it's been a while now since I've posted. The break I've taken turns out to be a matter of reorienting . A prime mover within me seems to be shifting towards a new focus, yet its image is elusive to my radar. The source of attraction seems to be moving, itself , as if seeking its own true North. The tension is vaguely felt on an unconscious level, but there is no visibility--I'm in the dark. These two are making a blind approach to their potential alignment. Will they come face to face? It's hard to say, although I keep getting glimpses of possible futures.
So much adjustment, so much patience required. Clarity awaits--it is an event in process, not wholly predictable, but at least, known for what it is--a change in the tides. It always makes me feel just a little better being able to acknowledge that big picture. Gives me just the smallest sense of control in this mighty process of sea change. "Oh, brave new world, who has such...in it."
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
Dark Moon Mama
At this point in my blogger enterprise, readers, I'm feeling conflicted. I don't know if this is typically what happens to a person after the first few weeks of writing in these pages, or if this is just something going on with me right now--just because I am who I am and have my own patterns of inner conflict. I know I'm not having writer's block, or any lack of ideas--in fact I feel overrun with ideas.
There's been a great flurry of activity in the group process of our "progressive" interest community and I know my energies have been pulled towards facilitation in that direction--and this has led me to doing more political reading than writing. I know I'm also struggling to stay focused on my original intent for creating this blog--to give a home for, a structure for my own creative process. It's easy to get distracted by the currents and flow of other writers here and to get caught up in the activity of current events rather than using their impact as prompts for tapping into my my own intuitive reserves.
It's also difficult to keep a clear image of who my readership is. When I write to my newsletter group, I know who they are--I can picture their faces, their potential responses to my message. I have diverse interests and diverse groups of people connected to those various areas of my own study or entertainment. Each time I write to one, I feel I'm leaving another out--disappointing someone or group. It's clear I'm going to have to let this go, because I know it's not good on anyone's account for me to write a homogenized version of a topic, one that can fit into the framework of any mindset. I'm afraid I've already done that a few times and it really dumbs down the quality of a piece.
I'm feeling the need right now to have some private space--some little corner in these pages just for me to have my own process. Perhaps I'm missing my journal--that's a real possibility. At the same time, we are deep into the balsamic phase of the moon. This is the traditional time to release into the dark void all the remains of the day. It is like the quiet and empty time after the celebration of the harvest. The time for the fields to be fallow and the people to to enter into the sabbath--to rest and renew their energies. Perhaps that can explain how I'm feeling now and why I have no inspiration or energy for holding the form--for staying the course. It's time for change and renewal.
The balsamic or dark moon period is definitely a time for release and regeneration of our energies, a time for regrouping, and as the phase of the moon becomes new (as it does this Sunday the 12th at 6:02 CDT here in Houston), we are offered an opening to connection with our deeper store of consciousness. Here we have the opportunity for sorting through all that is and scrying for what is our next best focus for manifestation. This is the time for the insemination of a new plan, one that can be developed over the next month's moon cycle . It is the time of new beginnings.
Be patient and rest, my child, says Old Mother Moon. Be at peace, for we will begin anew when the time is right. Then we will have all the insight we need for developing the new form, one that will serve us well in the days to come.
There's been a great flurry of activity in the group process of our "progressive" interest community and I know my energies have been pulled towards facilitation in that direction--and this has led me to doing more political reading than writing. I know I'm also struggling to stay focused on my original intent for creating this blog--to give a home for, a structure for my own creative process. It's easy to get distracted by the currents and flow of other writers here and to get caught up in the activity of current events rather than using their impact as prompts for tapping into my my own intuitive reserves.
It's also difficult to keep a clear image of who my readership is. When I write to my newsletter group, I know who they are--I can picture their faces, their potential responses to my message. I have diverse interests and diverse groups of people connected to those various areas of my own study or entertainment. Each time I write to one, I feel I'm leaving another out--disappointing someone or group. It's clear I'm going to have to let this go, because I know it's not good on anyone's account for me to write a homogenized version of a topic, one that can fit into the framework of any mindset. I'm afraid I've already done that a few times and it really dumbs down the quality of a piece.
I'm feeling the need right now to have some private space--some little corner in these pages just for me to have my own process. Perhaps I'm missing my journal--that's a real possibility. At the same time, we are deep into the balsamic phase of the moon. This is the traditional time to release into the dark void all the remains of the day. It is like the quiet and empty time after the celebration of the harvest. The time for the fields to be fallow and the people to to enter into the sabbath--to rest and renew their energies. Perhaps that can explain how I'm feeling now and why I have no inspiration or energy for holding the form--for staying the course. It's time for change and renewal.
The balsamic or dark moon period is definitely a time for release and regeneration of our energies, a time for regrouping, and as the phase of the moon becomes new (as it does this Sunday the 12th at 6:02 CDT here in Houston), we are offered an opening to connection with our deeper store of consciousness. Here we have the opportunity for sorting through all that is and scrying for what is our next best focus for manifestation. This is the time for the insemination of a new plan, one that can be developed over the next month's moon cycle . It is the time of new beginnings.
Be patient and rest, my child, says Old Mother Moon. Be at peace, for we will begin anew when the time is right. Then we will have all the insight we need for developing the new form, one that will serve us well in the days to come.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
A Shared Political Perspective
I have pasted to the blog, "Finding your own Voice" the post "Care and Repair--the Collapse of our Infrastructure" because it drew comments that are more appropriate for the focus of that blog--for the opportunity of "finding your own voice" for speaking (and writing) responsibly and intelligently (with "emotional intelligence") about our deepest core values and our most passionate hopes and dreams for the future of our country and for the future of the world--from a shared political perspective. A shared political perspective may not mean that we all agree, but that we share similar values, hopes, and dreams--and even perhaps a shared greater vision for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Emotional Intelligence and Politics
Bloggers--be aware I have started another blog called "Finding your own Voice" where I will focus more on progressive political commentary and self-discovery in terms of finding and learning to speak your own truth--especially in areas where others' viewpoints may be in conflict with yours. I have a piece posted there now, but thought I would include it here to help make the transition from here to there for this subject.
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Last night I attended what was, essentially, the first meeting of a group of people in the greater Houston area who are progressive in their thinking and feeling a lot of passion about how our country is (or is not) operating at this time. The group was first called together in response to a moveon.org gathering of people for viewing the Live Earth concert and listening to current democratic candidates respond to questions about how they would manage the problem of pollution and the resultant crisis of global warming.
Some of us at that “party” agreed we’d like to get together again just to have the comfort and support of like-minded people—to have the opportunity to converse about our views and share our feelings about living and working in a community where conservative thought dominates. Many of us confessed we have felt like it was necessary to hide our progressive thinking and suppress our true feelings in fear of social ostracization or worse! Being black-balled, losing our reputations, business connections—our jobs. Isn’t that what our Constitution’s supposed to protect us from? Geez!
Our host for the meeting suggested we read George Lakoff’s book, "Thinking Points" in preparation for the meeting. Lakoff is part of a progressive think tank called the Rockridge Institute. Rockridge (and Lakoff) have analyzed the success of the conservative or neo-con constituency to engage with the populace and influence the majority to their way of defining or “framing” reality (or truth) and have found that this feat has been accomplished through the conservatives’ ability to stir people at a subconscious and emotional level and activate “deep frames” of reference (or, from a Jungian perspective, major archetypes) that are so significant to the security of the target audience’s basic identity, that many would find it hard to resist.
He makes the point that many progressive thinking people (like our group) have been left stuttering and sputtering in response to hearing judgments and decisions being made based on a frame of reasoning that is so removed from our own system of values and beliefs as to offend or to outright defy our commonly held sense of decency. “Moral indignation” is the name given this feeling reaction in the field of social psychology. It often catches a person so off-guard that s/he is speechless in the face of it and finds herself with no ability to gather her wits and make a sensible response. Sound familiar?
Because we haven’t examined and learned to verbalize our own cognitive frames and the deep emotionally charged beliefs and experiences supporting them, we are at a loss for words when it comes to defending our most heart-felt truths. In order to better express ourselves, our own feelings and beliefs, it is necessary first to examine them at depth and get clear on just what they are—then it is important to learn how best to express them in a way we can be “heard” by others who may be coming from a different point of view--a different "deep frame" of reference. This way of processing emotionally informed material and learning to express it in a constructive manner is a significant component of emotional intelligence. I'm going to call this process of political personal growth work—“finding your own voice”!
More on that later!
Other books by Lakoff are "Moral Politics", "Metaphor, Morality, and Politics", "Don't Think Like an Elephant", and more.
_____________________________________________
Last night I attended what was, essentially, the first meeting of a group of people in the greater Houston area who are progressive in their thinking and feeling a lot of passion about how our country is (or is not) operating at this time. The group was first called together in response to a moveon.org gathering of people for viewing the Live Earth concert and listening to current democratic candidates respond to questions about how they would manage the problem of pollution and the resultant crisis of global warming.
Some of us at that “party” agreed we’d like to get together again just to have the comfort and support of like-minded people—to have the opportunity to converse about our views and share our feelings about living and working in a community where conservative thought dominates. Many of us confessed we have felt like it was necessary to hide our progressive thinking and suppress our true feelings in fear of social ostracization or worse! Being black-balled, losing our reputations, business connections—our jobs. Isn’t that what our Constitution’s supposed to protect us from? Geez!
Our host for the meeting suggested we read George Lakoff’s book, "Thinking Points" in preparation for the meeting. Lakoff is part of a progressive think tank called the Rockridge Institute. Rockridge (and Lakoff) have analyzed the success of the conservative or neo-con constituency to engage with the populace and influence the majority to their way of defining or “framing” reality (or truth) and have found that this feat has been accomplished through the conservatives’ ability to stir people at a subconscious and emotional level and activate “deep frames” of reference (or, from a Jungian perspective, major archetypes) that are so significant to the security of the target audience’s basic identity, that many would find it hard to resist.
He makes the point that many progressive thinking people (like our group) have been left stuttering and sputtering in response to hearing judgments and decisions being made based on a frame of reasoning that is so removed from our own system of values and beliefs as to offend or to outright defy our commonly held sense of decency. “Moral indignation” is the name given this feeling reaction in the field of social psychology. It often catches a person so off-guard that s/he is speechless in the face of it and finds herself with no ability to gather her wits and make a sensible response. Sound familiar?
Because we haven’t examined and learned to verbalize our own cognitive frames and the deep emotionally charged beliefs and experiences supporting them, we are at a loss for words when it comes to defending our most heart-felt truths. In order to better express ourselves, our own feelings and beliefs, it is necessary first to examine them at depth and get clear on just what they are—then it is important to learn how best to express them in a way we can be “heard” by others who may be coming from a different point of view--a different "deep frame" of reference. This way of processing emotionally informed material and learning to express it in a constructive manner is a significant component of emotional intelligence. I'm going to call this process of political personal growth work—“finding your own voice”!
More on that later!
Other books by Lakoff are "Moral Politics", "Metaphor, Morality, and Politics", "Don't Think Like an Elephant", and more.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Hairspray and My Name in Lights
Not much to say today to the World of Blog. I played with googling keywords that brought up my blog--hehe, it was like seeing my name in lights! I always did think it would be fun to be on Broadway, and actually did musicals in community theater for a time. And speaking of musicals, I saw Hairspray tonight--crazy to see such electricity between Travolta and Christopher Walken in their dance routine! Whew! It appeared several times when they were boldly (audaciously) flirting with each other, almost daring one another in their "come-ons", that one or both might really break out laughing in total and unabashed amusement at the other. Also crazy to see that guy who's danced his way from Saturday Night Fever through Pulp Fiction in all kinds of wild and sexy ways being so motherly and knees together demure! Very upbeat and uplifting for a movie about such painful realities of the past--a past that still has its threads winding through the fabric of today.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Emotional Self Awareness and Mastery
Well, Moonwalkers,
In the last few days, we have been moving through the disseminating phase of the moon. At this time, we are re-orienting from exposure to the potency of the full moon's radiance and beginning to make meaning of what came through that portal. The illumination taken in has been too much for us to assimilate and integrate all at once. We have been pulsed with power so much greater than our body minds can withstand and still remain the same. We must have a mechanism that catches that radiance before entering into our fields, a holding pool of sorts, and a system in place for gearing that high level information down to a level that it can be received without harm--without overload to the system of self.
And so this period between the full moon portal of enlightenment and the last quarter moon activity of harvesting and putting to use its benefits, is the phase where we are beginning to realize just what kind of unique fish we have pulled up from this sea of consciousness. And sometimes, Moonwalkers, it can be a bizarre and scary fish. I will never forget the first time I pulled up from the mouth of the Pascagoula River just where it was spilling into the Mississippi Sound, a long and wriggly eel whose most prominent feature was a mouth full of sharp, pointy teeth!
Yes, sometimes the lessons we are exposed to in the process of our personal growth are ugly and threatening to the safety and familiarity of the self image we had going into the experience. New self awareness can be emboldening--empowering, yes, it’s true, but only once we've been able to assimilate it into our personal economy and integrate its function in a way that brings us a new and valuable advantage. Additional knowledge about our relationship with the world around us brings us an advantage—right?
You might remember that my walk was for potency, passion, respect—resulting in an increase of joy in my life. Well, encountering the potency of such a grander light than my being has ever known fills me with a surge of intensity that must be reckoned with and channeled, does it not, Moonwalkers? All that fullness of experience with which I am having a great love affair can make me a little obsessive. Maybe I become a little unbearable in my personal expansiveness and others have to put me in my place! That is, until I get it under management. So this is where we are in the cycle of this month’s moon.
I had an image today of my Self as a golden retriever puppy full of friendly, energetic curiosity just spilling over beyond my ability to contain myself in my need and desire to fearlessly seek attention from all the passersby on the trail—straining at the leash of my master, and possibly peeing on myself with excitement as I receive an acknowledging pet here or a rebuke there. While another part of my Self, the “master” on the other end of that leash was trying to restrain puppy-self from offending my human peers on our walk with her puppy eagerness to love and connect and “know”.
And yet, at the same time as the master self restrains her frisky and naïve charge to prevent her from annoying others and calling rebuke and rejection down upon the whole self—that master self would be incensed if anyone met on the trail were truly, unconscionably rude, crude, or downright “mean” to her innocent’s unfamiliarity with appropriate boundaries. I’ve definitely seen this scenario played out while walking with my daughter and her goldens (who continue to act like puppies, only with a full year of growth and weight on them) in their neighborhood park in Denver.
Though she works tirelessly to hold them to the boundaries of the trail by the lake and discipline them to their leashes, if someone along the way fails to think they are just precious in their attention seeking behavior and should dare to chastise or ignore them, then she is incensed, and might even have something to say to the “offender”. So it is not hard to understand and accept that master part of me in those same circumstances will be hurt, seriously offended—fiercely protective as a mama lion, when my puppy self who is only seeking new knowledge and experience is slapped on the nose with a paper for putting that nose where perhaps it is not wanted.
And this is enlightenment, you ask? Seems elementary, you might say. Sometimes the simplest lessons are the hardest. Maybe where we have resisted looking closely at our feelings and behavior patterns, we miss these most obvious things. The question is – what do we do with these realizations? How do we learn to soothe our master-puppy combination in such a way as we can control the impulse of the mother-master to maim the s-o-b on the trail that didn’t love her puppy-child and at the same time teach the puppy to have the boundaries and etiquette required by the social environment in which she must learn to navigate?
Do you find, Moonwalkers, that sometimes just knowing and understanding why you are feeling a certain way can be the beginning of self soothing—and of restoring the balance that has been disturbed within you? Taking corrective action to prevent having to confront this same scenario again is also restorative of the order within. Being compassionate with both your puppy and your master self is a way of respecting and honoring yourself, unconditionally, and opening you to a greater experience of joy. You see how we’re touching on those qualities I chose to receive as gifts of my experience in this portion of my life-walk, Moonwalkers?
Yes, potency, passion, respect—all qualities that lead to a greater experience of joy in life. And I am disseminating to you now the meaning I have made from my encounter with that “greater consciousness” to which I willingly opened myself in the adventure of my solitary walk. This dissemination of meaningful information that can bring benefit to others is the final task of the disseminating moon phase. Now, onward to reaping those benefits and putting them to good use!
In the last few days, we have been moving through the disseminating phase of the moon. At this time, we are re-orienting from exposure to the potency of the full moon's radiance and beginning to make meaning of what came through that portal. The illumination taken in has been too much for us to assimilate and integrate all at once. We have been pulsed with power so much greater than our body minds can withstand and still remain the same. We must have a mechanism that catches that radiance before entering into our fields, a holding pool of sorts, and a system in place for gearing that high level information down to a level that it can be received without harm--without overload to the system of self.
And so this period between the full moon portal of enlightenment and the last quarter moon activity of harvesting and putting to use its benefits, is the phase where we are beginning to realize just what kind of unique fish we have pulled up from this sea of consciousness. And sometimes, Moonwalkers, it can be a bizarre and scary fish. I will never forget the first time I pulled up from the mouth of the Pascagoula River just where it was spilling into the Mississippi Sound, a long and wriggly eel whose most prominent feature was a mouth full of sharp, pointy teeth!
Yes, sometimes the lessons we are exposed to in the process of our personal growth are ugly and threatening to the safety and familiarity of the self image we had going into the experience. New self awareness can be emboldening--empowering, yes, it’s true, but only once we've been able to assimilate it into our personal economy and integrate its function in a way that brings us a new and valuable advantage. Additional knowledge about our relationship with the world around us brings us an advantage—right?
You might remember that my walk was for potency, passion, respect—resulting in an increase of joy in my life. Well, encountering the potency of such a grander light than my being has ever known fills me with a surge of intensity that must be reckoned with and channeled, does it not, Moonwalkers? All that fullness of experience with which I am having a great love affair can make me a little obsessive. Maybe I become a little unbearable in my personal expansiveness and others have to put me in my place! That is, until I get it under management. So this is where we are in the cycle of this month’s moon.
I had an image today of my Self as a golden retriever puppy full of friendly, energetic curiosity just spilling over beyond my ability to contain myself in my need and desire to fearlessly seek attention from all the passersby on the trail—straining at the leash of my master, and possibly peeing on myself with excitement as I receive an acknowledging pet here or a rebuke there. While another part of my Self, the “master” on the other end of that leash was trying to restrain puppy-self from offending my human peers on our walk with her puppy eagerness to love and connect and “know”.
And yet, at the same time as the master self restrains her frisky and naïve charge to prevent her from annoying others and calling rebuke and rejection down upon the whole self—that master self would be incensed if anyone met on the trail were truly, unconscionably rude, crude, or downright “mean” to her innocent’s unfamiliarity with appropriate boundaries. I’ve definitely seen this scenario played out while walking with my daughter and her goldens (who continue to act like puppies, only with a full year of growth and weight on them) in their neighborhood park in Denver.
Though she works tirelessly to hold them to the boundaries of the trail by the lake and discipline them to their leashes, if someone along the way fails to think they are just precious in their attention seeking behavior and should dare to chastise or ignore them, then she is incensed, and might even have something to say to the “offender”. So it is not hard to understand and accept that master part of me in those same circumstances will be hurt, seriously offended—fiercely protective as a mama lion, when my puppy self who is only seeking new knowledge and experience is slapped on the nose with a paper for putting that nose where perhaps it is not wanted.
And this is enlightenment, you ask? Seems elementary, you might say. Sometimes the simplest lessons are the hardest. Maybe where we have resisted looking closely at our feelings and behavior patterns, we miss these most obvious things. The question is – what do we do with these realizations? How do we learn to soothe our master-puppy combination in such a way as we can control the impulse of the mother-master to maim the s-o-b on the trail that didn’t love her puppy-child and at the same time teach the puppy to have the boundaries and etiquette required by the social environment in which she must learn to navigate?
Do you find, Moonwalkers, that sometimes just knowing and understanding why you are feeling a certain way can be the beginning of self soothing—and of restoring the balance that has been disturbed within you? Taking corrective action to prevent having to confront this same scenario again is also restorative of the order within. Being compassionate with both your puppy and your master self is a way of respecting and honoring yourself, unconditionally, and opening you to a greater experience of joy. You see how we’re touching on those qualities I chose to receive as gifts of my experience in this portion of my life-walk, Moonwalkers?
Yes, potency, passion, respect—all qualities that lead to a greater experience of joy in life. And I am disseminating to you now the meaning I have made from my encounter with that “greater consciousness” to which I willingly opened myself in the adventure of my solitary walk. This dissemination of meaningful information that can bring benefit to others is the final task of the disseminating moon phase. Now, onward to reaping those benefits and putting them to good use!
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Care and Repair--the Collapse of our Infrastructure
What a shock this morning to open up the New York Times and see an interstate span over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis had collapsed. And then to proceed to CNN’s Breaking News to see and hear the live reports. I begin to see all over again the World Trade Towers coming down, though obviously, this bridge span collapse has less impact on us as a nation and less loss of life associated.
After somewhat assimilating the human drama being enacted before my eyes this morning and observing my mind and body jump to scenes of unlikely to unreal occurrences in recent movies such as Live Free and Die Hard and X-Men, The Last Stand where landmark bridges such as the Golden Gate and major interstate freeway exchange spans were collapsing while amazing feats of survival were being accomplished, I returned to intuitive hits I’ve had in the recent past. These flashes of insight I've had more and more often have involved a realization that our “great society” goal of the sixties--that of building roads, bridges, and rockets into “new frontiers” for mankind may have been somewhat lofty.
And that the roads, bridges, rockets (and planes) that were built during the sixties—that time of great expansion (and perhaps overly grandiose confidence in our ability to master human physical limitations), were now suffering the stress and fatigue of forty years of use. I recognized that I and many others of my generation (baby-boomers) have labored under an illusion that these miracles of modern engineering and technology were here to stay, impenetrable—everlasting. Surely these were monumental enterprises which would be standing long after mine and my progeny’s need for them. Certainly they were better designed for long term use than historical buildings such as the famed cathedrals of Europe, et al, which must have been built with inferior and antiquated engineering and architectural design. Right?
At one point, as discussions of our nation’s deficient and deteriorating electrical grid brought to light the precariousness of our current system’s dependability, and I recognized the fragility of our economic structure just in terms of a major loss of computerized data (Y2K), I begin to digest the realization that our blatant inattention to the requirements of sustaining what was built in those early years of our “going where no [one] has gone before, had placed us on the brink of disaster. The seemingly unrelated horror of 9-11 sealed that awful knowledge in a heart-binding kind of cognitive restructuring, but the true heart-break was in the events following.
I’m talking about the immediate use of our shock and overwhelm to insert an egregious program that placed us on a steady course to war in Iraq. It has been downhill from there, people! We find our infrastructure collapsing all around us—roads, bridges, buildings, levees—and our leadership concentrating on its own agenda of avarice and greed for power. Empire building? Well, Nero fiddled while Rome and its empire burned, so they say. I am unfalteringly focused in concern for our well-being, my fellow Americans—my fellow members of the human race!
It is certainly time that we as individuals take on the personal responsibility of stepping up to the plate and seeing that the true needs of our society are acknowledged and given the care and attention they need. It is time that we each begin to be true adults and not latch-key children dependent on slightly older adolescent siblings for our care and feeding. Yes, sorry to say, it appears our leader-caretakers are no more capable or responsible than slightly older siblings left in charge—older adolescents with obvious issues of entitlement, whose attention to their own grandiose agendas far outweighs that given to our needs for sustenance. It is time that we grow up and face the deterioration and damage to our society’s infrastructure and use our own ingenuity for resolving these most pressing needs for care and repair.
After somewhat assimilating the human drama being enacted before my eyes this morning and observing my mind and body jump to scenes of unlikely to unreal occurrences in recent movies such as Live Free and Die Hard and X-Men, The Last Stand where landmark bridges such as the Golden Gate and major interstate freeway exchange spans were collapsing while amazing feats of survival were being accomplished, I returned to intuitive hits I’ve had in the recent past. These flashes of insight I've had more and more often have involved a realization that our “great society” goal of the sixties--that of building roads, bridges, and rockets into “new frontiers” for mankind may have been somewhat lofty.
And that the roads, bridges, rockets (and planes) that were built during the sixties—that time of great expansion (and perhaps overly grandiose confidence in our ability to master human physical limitations), were now suffering the stress and fatigue of forty years of use. I recognized that I and many others of my generation (baby-boomers) have labored under an illusion that these miracles of modern engineering and technology were here to stay, impenetrable—everlasting. Surely these were monumental enterprises which would be standing long after mine and my progeny’s need for them. Certainly they were better designed for long term use than historical buildings such as the famed cathedrals of Europe, et al, which must have been built with inferior and antiquated engineering and architectural design. Right?
At one point, as discussions of our nation’s deficient and deteriorating electrical grid brought to light the precariousness of our current system’s dependability, and I recognized the fragility of our economic structure just in terms of a major loss of computerized data (Y2K), I begin to digest the realization that our blatant inattention to the requirements of sustaining what was built in those early years of our “going where no [one] has gone before, had placed us on the brink of disaster. The seemingly unrelated horror of 9-11 sealed that awful knowledge in a heart-binding kind of cognitive restructuring, but the true heart-break was in the events following.
I’m talking about the immediate use of our shock and overwhelm to insert an egregious program that placed us on a steady course to war in Iraq. It has been downhill from there, people! We find our infrastructure collapsing all around us—roads, bridges, buildings, levees—and our leadership concentrating on its own agenda of avarice and greed for power. Empire building? Well, Nero fiddled while Rome and its empire burned, so they say. I am unfalteringly focused in concern for our well-being, my fellow Americans—my fellow members of the human race!
It is certainly time that we as individuals take on the personal responsibility of stepping up to the plate and seeing that the true needs of our society are acknowledged and given the care and attention they need. It is time that we each begin to be true adults and not latch-key children dependent on slightly older adolescent siblings for our care and feeding. Yes, sorry to say, it appears our leader-caretakers are no more capable or responsible than slightly older siblings left in charge—older adolescents with obvious issues of entitlement, whose attention to their own grandiose agendas far outweighs that given to our needs for sustenance. It is time that we grow up and face the deterioration and damage to our society’s infrastructure and use our own ingenuity for resolving these most pressing needs for care and repair.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Blog Housekeeping--Topic Areas
Well I’m beginning to settle in and make myself at home here—I’ve learned to navigate around pretty well and to make the tools work for me. I’ve definitely seen more artistic looking sites, but I’ll get around to blog décor as time goes on. I have been focused, in these beginning days, on getting some of my writing out there (or in here) and on developing a daily writing practice.
I’m some days torn between keeping up a conversation with the various people I’ve met so far--and pursuing my own writing ideas. I’ll probably do a little of both, so if you come here hungry for interaction, not necessarily with me, but with others who may be commenting, and you see one of my prose pieces on top, I invite you to scroll down. You may find just one or two entries down, a piece that is more light weight or to your interest.
There are many subjects I’d like to introduce here and elaborate upon, perhaps drawing others into thinking and talking about, but I don’t want to have such a diverse spread of topics that it begins to seem chaotic. Apparently it works well in building a group of readers when you have a theme that can be counted upon. People do like the comfortable feeling of familiarity and predictability. Right?
So maybe if I just list the various subjects or areas I’d like to develop here, then you who come could depend on finding at least one of those topics to be the subject or the material of that day’s post. Does that sound like a deal?
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OK, so the topic areas will be current events with links of interest (which may just be those in my life, or it may be my take on something going on “out there”); the emotional and sexual side of relationships (attitudes about Love, Sex, and Money); how to manifest your desires using the moon phases for your guide (which will incorporate some of the current astrological aspects, giving you a head’s up about the climate surrounding the success of your project); my own personal life exploration, hopefully written in a way that might be helpful to you for your own personal evolution; then, not to neglect my enjoyment of poetic release, an area of poetry or poetic prose.
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How’s that for a little organization?
I’m some days torn between keeping up a conversation with the various people I’ve met so far--and pursuing my own writing ideas. I’ll probably do a little of both, so if you come here hungry for interaction, not necessarily with me, but with others who may be commenting, and you see one of my prose pieces on top, I invite you to scroll down. You may find just one or two entries down, a piece that is more light weight or to your interest.
There are many subjects I’d like to introduce here and elaborate upon, perhaps drawing others into thinking and talking about, but I don’t want to have such a diverse spread of topics that it begins to seem chaotic. Apparently it works well in building a group of readers when you have a theme that can be counted upon. People do like the comfortable feeling of familiarity and predictability. Right?
So maybe if I just list the various subjects or areas I’d like to develop here, then you who come could depend on finding at least one of those topics to be the subject or the material of that day’s post. Does that sound like a deal?
____________________________________________________________________________________
OK, so the topic areas will be current events with links of interest (which may just be those in my life, or it may be my take on something going on “out there”); the emotional and sexual side of relationships (attitudes about Love, Sex, and Money); how to manifest your desires using the moon phases for your guide (which will incorporate some of the current astrological aspects, giving you a head’s up about the climate surrounding the success of your project); my own personal life exploration, hopefully written in a way that might be helpful to you for your own personal evolution; then, not to neglect my enjoyment of poetic release, an area of poetry or poetic prose.
____________________________________________________________________________________
How’s that for a little organization?
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